Do you usually recieve them before or after college starts and if before, usually how long before it starts do you get it? I have some things I need to get before I start college, and i was wondering if I’ll get the loans and stuff in time to help me out before classes begins.

Well it all depends on what type of loans you applied for. Most loans do not get credited to your account until after you have already started school. As for the grants, that goes directly to the school and is applied to your balance before the loan hits. If you have a credit balance for your loan after your tuition is paid, at the end of the semester, you will receive the balance in a check. Once again, this all depends on the type of loan you applied for

how long does it take for a parent to process application for child for college ? determine if there is financial aid / borrow money if needed ? what is processing time for this ?

Apply for both early in your child’s senior year. This will allow plenty of time. If this is your child’s senior year, start RIGHT NOW. It’s still early in December, so it’s not too late; in fact, now is the perfect time. If you’re in the U.S., fill out the federal FAFSA form to find out if your child is eligible for Pell Grants (free money!) or other financial aid. If you have your tax returns ready it will take no more than 30-45 minutes to fill out. Web sites like fastweb.com are good places to search for scholarships. You should also Google your state government’s education web site to find out what kind of scholarships they offer to students who stay in state. Most students with scholarships get them directly from their school or state government. Good luck!

Where is a good place online to apply for scholarships? I live in Tennessee & I am a single mother, I am 23, and I am interested in bettering myself and having a successful future for me and my 4 month old daughter.

Im in high school but I don’t think it makes much of a difference.
Try signing up for websites such as Cappex and FastWeb. Our guidance counselors recommended it to us. You can sign up for scholarships and also let other colleges see your profile and maybe send you some information if they’re interested in you

I have been stuttering my whole life and I am heading off to college soon and I was wondering if there were any college scholarships for people who are stutter.

I couldn’t find out, but you might go to one of these stuttering groups and ask

http://groups.myspace.com/stutteringfoundation

www.stutteringforum.com

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/stutteringchat/

You might also contact The Stuttering Foundation for help with your stuttering. Look for their books and DVDs at your public library.

In a recent college admission industry journal a brave admissions Vice President commented that “Sadly, in the last 20 years we have lost our way in admissions. Colleges are no longer centered on counseling students; we are focused more on recruiting and competing for them. The students are just a way of keeping score. Furthermore, we charge different prices to students whom we value more or less because of our internal institutional priorities…Private counselors who strike a balance between helping students find the right match for their abilities, interests, and personality and assisting families in locating affordable choices are valuable.”

We couldn’t agree more. So who is looking out for your student in the admissions and financial aid process? Not the colleges anymore. Independent counselors, however, have no agenda other than what is best for their students. College is big business, first and foremost. You may not need a CPA to do your basic taxes and you may not need legal help for routine matters. But if you’re facing an IRS audit or having to go to court you want a professional in your corner. The same can be said of college admission and financial aid. The stakes are high, to say the least. Given that a bachelors degree from a public institution will cost $50,000 to $75,000 and a degree from a private institution can cost upwards of $175,000 or more the dollars alone beg for a professional’s expertise. Consider also that the difference in average lifetime earnings between a high school graduate and a college graduate is $1.2 million and climbing.

So where can you find help? And how do you know that you’ve found a professional?

In an ideal world, the first place to seek assistance would be from your high school counseling office. But in reality, too many high school counselors are not ‘college’ counselors per se; only a small amount of their time and resources are dedicated to college admission and only very rarely do counselors understand the intricacies of the financial aid process. Too many counselors are simply overworked and lack the time and resources to offer meaningful personal attention and guidance.

There are also no widely-known and recognized certifications for independent counselors such as the CFP or CPA designations, although such certifications do exist. And it is all too easy to find ‘independent counselors’ with little or no experience other than their own children’s admissions and financial aid processes. A disgruntled parent can make a bad counselor.

However, armed with the right questions, you can find true experienced professionals. When interviewing an independent college counselor be sure to have these questions answered to your satisfaction:

1. Professional Credentials/Experience

Do not ask if they have college admission and college counseling experience – ask them to tell you specifically how many years in admissions, how many years in financial aid, how many years in college counseling, how many years in private practice, and which institutions they served. The ideal is to find someone – or a team – who has direct experience in all of these areas and knows the tips, tricks, ins, outs, politics, processes, calendars, expectations, and language of college admission and financial aid.

2. Professional Associations

Ask if your independent counselor is a current member of professional associations. Professional associations, such as regional chapters of the National Association of College Admission Counseling, keep counselors up to speed with developments, issues, ethics, and news within the college admission and financial aid industries, not to mention that such associations foster collegial relationships between professionals. It would be nice to have your counselor personally know the deans and directors at the colleges your student will apply to.

3. Number of students

You want to know that your counselor is a full time professional and will work with your student appropriately. However, you also want your counselor to have a reasonable case load. You do not want your student to be that counselor’s fourth (why so few – does she know what she’s doing?) nor his 400th (will he be able to spend any time with my student?).

4. College & Campus Familiarity

You want to know that your counselor has personal experience with many different campuses and that they visit different colleges whenever possible. Matching the student to the right college is crucial. Colleges have personalities. Students have personalities. If your counselor has not visited the campus they do not have a good understanding of the college, period. It would be like finding a mate through an old-fashioned classified ad (nice college with leafy trees and okay professors seeks student with 1200 SAT score…). The better the counselor knows the colleges and knows the students the more successful the matching. 45% of students who start college do not finish; often this is because the it’s just not the right place for them and, frustrated and demoralized, they drop out.

5. Money Matters

No, we’re not talking about counselor fees here (although these vary wildly – we’ve seen everything between $500 and $30,000). You need to know to what extent your counselor understands the financial aid process. Ask if they fill out or help you with the FAFSA and CSS Profile applications for need-based financial aid. Ask them if they think you need to fill out the forms even if you don’t think you will qualify for need-based aid (the answer is yes, of course, so you can be eligible for merit awards and loan packages). Ask if they will be able to provide you with a college funding plan with a breakdown of estimated family contribution numbers, line-by-line estimated financial aid packages, and if they work with a financial planner or college funding specialist to suggest ways to improve the family’s bottom line. Most independent college counselors do little to none of this, so you may want to cut them some slack; just know that such help is out there for those who want and need it.

The stakes are high, but there is excellent help available. Just be sure you find a pro, someone you trust, respect, and whom you know will work well with your student.

Bill Mccumber
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/need-admissions-and-financial-aid-help-heres-how-to-hire-a-private-college-counselor-50823.html

I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems. It is really hard to find a job in this field in this particular area and I don’t have the funds to relocate right now. I was thinking about going back to college to get a degree in nursing or education. I am unemployed right now and would definitely like to start college in the summer. If anyone have any solution to my problem please help me.

Your best option would be to try to get a Graduate Assistantship through your masters degree program.

Quite often when students come to earn an MA/MS or up to a PhD, the school will often hire you to teach 1 or 2 classes to undergraduates per semester. They will pay you a salary (small one) and waive your tuition.

I would definately ask the MA program you are interested in if there are any open Graduate Assistantship programs available, and what you have to do to get one.

other than that you can take courses part time, and work while taking classes. Most universities have payment plans for classes meaning you just need to make a monthly payment which is often easier than making one lump sum payment for your classes.

But your best bet if you don’t want loans is the GA position.

How does one obtain a scholarship? What is the process and requirements?

Same questions for the other forms of financial aid.

If you have any information about college financial aid, I would appreciate learning what you know. Thank you!

Financial aid is going to start with the FAFSA. This is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This will look to see if you are eligible for grants (money that doesn’t have to be paid back) and will ask you if you are interested in student loans and work study. As for scholarships, these are usually private gifts of money that come from millions of places. Talk to the financial aid department at the school you wish to attend – they can probably give you some leads on available scholarships.

Try this site

http://free-college-information-usa.blogspot.com/

Free College information on financial college aid and more.

My friends are unsure of whether they’ll receive scholarships. What are possible ideas you can give me so I can encourage them to apply! There’s thousands of many out there, and I want them to apply and receive free cash just like any other student. How can I encourage them to apply?

Justification for higher education. We can’t all be rock stars or movie stars, Mom and Dad won’t always be footing the bills and young people today need and want more toys and bling than ever before in history. Explain to them that the better educated they are the better chance they have of obtaining that Hummer, or Lamboghini, or Porsche or that huge mansion on the beach, world travel or early retirement. Whatever their dreams may be, won’t be obtainable without a good career and a good, complete education is the only sure way of going into a decent career with a real future these days.

My daughter is a Junior in high school and is active in band , newpaper , NHS and is 24th in her class of 490. I am a single hispanic mom and am worried how i will pay her way through college. I will make sure she has what she needs to succeed but i was wondering where i might find a little help , in Scholarships and grants.

You are doing a fantastic job by asking this question during her junior year of high school! It is the perfect time to start searching for outside money for her college education since it is an idea to find out what is out there before the deadlines. I will list some free resources to help locate money for her college education.

First, the college’s financial aid office and website has a list of private scholarships offered from outside organizations and companies. Sometimes a college major’s website will list scholarships, too.

Second, the public library has a book listing scholarships with some not even listed on the web.

Third, the high school guidance office has a list of local scholarships and state scholarships & grants.

Fourth, a campus work study job can help with money needed during the school year. The program is funded by the federal government. It will be a job on campus and most times can work to your availability schedule. There should be a box on the FAFSA form for it.

Fifth, fill out the FAFSA form after January 1 of her senior year of high school. It will qualify her for need based financial aid from the federal government and the school itself. It will come in the form of scholarships, Pell Grant, student loans, and the work study program.

Sixth, encourage her to study and prepare for the ACT and SAT tests. In combination with her GPA, it could result in merit scholarships from the college itself.

Seventh, there are states that encourage good grades and offer scholarships. Search Google.com and Yahoo.com for more information.

Finally, I recommend joining several free membership scholarship search websites. There are scholarships for a variety of things including ethnicity, clubs, hobbies, and even wearing duct tape to the high school prom. Most are updated on a regular basis. Most offer a customized search based on information entered onto a form on the website.

Good luck!

Will that be the tax payers????I do not think si let them quiti having a wonder drunk and hget a job like the rest of us slobs in American
If I had used spell check You""" Mensa """would not have read my statement?

The taxpayers which are mainly middle class. If Obama is elected there will be no middle class left in America in 4 years. Poor people don’t pay taxes and the rich don’t miss them and find loopholes. That leaves the hard working American and the small businessman to foot the bill for these wasteful programs. I paid my way through 3 years of college by working from my 16th birthday and borrowed the 4th year and have paid back every cent. That’s what kids of today should do too. Why should I pay for someone’s education through higher taxes?